Care Provider Newsletter

April 2024

Attachments for this bulletin are available for download online

Adult Social Care

Trusted Assessors

The role of a Trusted Assessor is to provide additional resources to support the care home in conducting a timely and thorough person-centred assessment, that meets the needs of both the individual and the care provider. Prior to admission care homes should receive a verbal handover from the ward, this is to clarify information and obtain any changes etc.

Should you have any questions or queries you can contact either Sam or Ann-Elyse:
M: 07387257481 E: samantha.skehan @nhs.net
M: 07775254191 | E: ann-elyse.hector@nhs.net
Shared generic TA in box: bswicb.banestrustedassessor@nhs.net

Bladder & Bowel Continence Team

Towards the end of 2023 the provision of continence pads changed from Hartmann’s to Essity. Some of you have told us that you are experiencing problems with the pads, so we have been advised that any resident who you feel has an ill-fitting pad should be re-assessed as soon as possible. You can also email the team at vcl.cccbathnes@nhs.net for the attention of Layonee at the Bladder & Bowel service together with your resident’s name, date of birth and description of the problem. Layonee will then check the records and make sure that your resident has a similar pad to that of Hartmann’s and when the last assessment took place.

Save the Date – Activity Co-Ordinator Forum

The next Activity Co-ordinator Forum is taking place on Friday 26 April 2024 at 10.30am. Should you have any new staff members wishing to join the forum please feel free to send them along. The meeting is taking place at Cleeve Court Community Resource Centre, Cleeve Green, Twerton, Bath, BA2 1RS. Please do your best to encourage your staff to attend.

Business Continuity Plan Audit Tool

Business continuity plans in social care are important. A good plan will improve the way a business responds to a disruption that could have a major impact on its ability to provide care.

There are many circumstances which could disrupt how care is provided. Natural disasters like floods, pandemics such as outbreaks of infectious diseases, and cyber-attacks compromising sensitive information are just some of the examples that need to be considered as part of a plan.

Care providers can now access a business continuity plan audit tool that aims to consider how thoroughly cyber security and data protection issues are addressed as part of a business continuity plan.

This will help care providers to understand how assured they should feel about the level of planning in place to minimise the impact of a data breach or cyber-attack.

The tool was developed by Buckinghamshire Council who identified a need to check the effectiveness of business continuity plans in efforts to support care providers with minimising the impact of a data breach or cyber-attack. Care providers are also expected to use the Data Security & Protection Toolkit at least once a year to check and improve their data security arrangements.

Care providers should use the tool to check how thorough their business continuity plans are, and whether they should make any amendments.

MHRA Device Safety Information

Counterfeits and unbranded copies of LifeVac anti-choking devices may fail to work correctly or worsen choking incidents if used.

Anti-choking devices are intended to alleviate choking incidents after Basic Life Support protocols have been attempted and failed. There are numerous counterfeit and unbranded anti-choking devices being sold in the UK online which do not have a valid UKCA or CE mark and may pose a significant risk of worsening choking if used. These devices should not be used in the event of a choking emergency and should be disposed of once identified as counterfeit or non-compliant.

The Device Safety Information at the link below contains further information and actions for health and care providers.

Actions for those working in care settings

If anti-choking devices are deployed or available for use in your care provider, you should review these devices against the information provided above in this notice to determine whether these are counterfeits or unbranded devices.
If these devices are found to be counterfeit or unbranded, the guidance in ‘actions for users and customers’ should be followed accordingly.

https://www.gov.uk/drug-device-alerts/counterfeits-and-unbranded-copies-of-lifevac-anti-choking-devices-may-fail-to-work-correctly-or-worsen-choking-incidents-if-used-dsi-slash-2024-slash-003

Newsletter Sign Up

Our care home newsletter is circulated bi-monthly. Due to GDPR we unable to add members to a mailing list without their express written consent.

Should anyone wish to sign up to the newsletter, you can do so by clicking the link here: http://eepurl.com/hjMm7X.

International Recruitment

The Department of Health & Social Care have recently published a good practice guide on Internation Recruitment. The international recruitment toolkit has been developed to help adult social care providers decide whether to recruit care workers and senior care workers from overseas, with guidance on how to do so in an ethical and responsible manner.

This quick start guide provides a summary of key considerations and is intended to serve as an entry point to the guidance. It is not a substitute for it.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/international-recruitment-toolkit-for-adult-social-care-providers.

Upcoming Training

Colleagues working in social care across Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire are being invited to book onto a wide range of fully funded skills update courses.

Over 150 training sessions are available covering 20 different areas including taking bloods, moving and handling, basic life support, catheterisation and lots more.

The courses are offered locally and are fully funded by the BSW Academy.

For more information, click the following link https://bswtogether.org.uk/training-education/events/.

New guidance - Supporting safer visiting in care homes during infectious illness outbreaks

On April 06, 2024, legislation was passed to ensure that care home residents are not cut off from their friends and family and that any measures that reduce visits should be proportionate and risk based. This newly published guidance accompanies the legislation and is aimed to provide clarity.

There is absolutely nothing new in the principles it outlines, and we, in the SW, have certainly been working to these principles for a long time. All our UKHSA documentation and resources are in line with these principles. However, it is worth having a quick read through this new guidance to remind yourself, to understand the tone of national policy and to make sure that all of your own local resources comply with these principles.

For more information, click the following link https://www.gov.uk/guidance/supporting-safer-visiting-in-care-homes-during-infectious-illness-outbreaks.